This chapter presents a cross-cultural study of gender, religion, and culture, using the history of Chinese women and the Anglican Church in China as a case study. Instead of focusing on mission ...
More

This chapter presents a cross-cultural study of gender, religion, and culture, using the history of Chinese women and the Anglican Church in China as a case study. Instead of focusing on mission history as previous studies usually have done, it treats the missionary movement as a part of the globalizing modernity, which affected both Western and Chinese societies. The attention shifts from missionaries to local women’s agencies, introducing figures such as Mrs. Zhang Heling, Huang Su’e, and female students in mission schools. It uses a wider comparative frame (beyond China and the West) to contrast women’s work by the Church Missionary Society in China, Iran, India, and Uganda. It also places the ordination for the first woman in the Anglican Communion—Rev. Li Tim Oi—in the development of postcolonial awareness of the church.Less

The Study of Chinese Women and the Anglican Church in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Kwok Pui-lan

Published in print: 2018-10-01

This chapter presents a cross-cultural study of gender, religion, and culture, using the history of Chinese women and the Anglican Church in China as a case study. Instead of focusing on mission history as previous studies usually have done, it treats the missionary movement as a part of the globalizing modernity, which affected both Western and Chinese societies. The attention shifts from missionaries to local women’s agencies, introducing figures such as Mrs. Zhang Heling, Huang Su’e, and female students in mission schools. It uses a wider comparative frame (beyond China and the West) to contrast women’s work by the Church Missionary Society in China, Iran, India, and Uganda. It also places the ordination for the first woman in the Anglican Communion—Rev. Li Tim Oi—in the development of postcolonial awareness of the church.

This volume expands on the long-standing debates about whether Christianity is a collaborator in, or a liberating force against the oppressive patriarchal culture for women in Asia through the ...
More

This volume expands on the long-standing debates about whether Christianity is a collaborator in, or a liberating force against the oppressive patriarchal culture for women in Asia through the accounts of the Anglican church in China. Women have played an important role in the history of Chinese Christianity, but their contributions have yet to receive due recognition, partly because of the complexities arising out of the historical tension between Western imperialism and Chinese patriarchy. Single women missionaries and missionary spouses in the nineteenth century set the early examples of what women could do to spread the Gospel. The education provided to Chinese women by missionaries, which was expected to turn them into good wives and mothers, empowered the students and allowed them to become full participants not only in the Church but also in the wider society. Together, the Western female missionaries and the Chinese women whom they trained explored their newfound freedom and tried out their roles with the help of each other. These developments culminated in the ordination of Florence Li Tim Oi to priesthood in 1944, a singular event that fundamentally changed the history of the Anglican Communion. At the heart of this collection lies the rich experience of those women in the Anglican church, both Chinese and Western, who devoted their lives to their evangelizing and civilizing mission across mainland China and Hong Kong. Contributors make the most of the sources to reconstruct their voices and present sympathetic accounts of these remarkable women’s achievements.Less

Christian Women in Chinese Society : The Anglican Story

Published in print: 2018-10-01

This volume expands on the long-standing debates about whether Christianity is a collaborator in, or a liberating force against the oppressive patriarchal culture for women in Asia through the accounts of the Anglican church in China. Women have played an important role in the history of Chinese Christianity, but their contributions have yet to receive due recognition, partly because of the complexities arising out of the historical tension between Western imperialism and Chinese patriarchy. Single women missionaries and missionary spouses in the nineteenth century set the early examples of what women could do to spread the Gospel. The education provided to Chinese women by missionaries, which was expected to turn them into good wives and mothers, empowered the students and allowed them to become full participants not only in the Church but also in the wider society. Together, the Western female missionaries and the Chinese women whom they trained explored their newfound freedom and tried out their roles with the help of each other. These developments culminated in the ordination of Florence Li Tim Oi to priesthood in 1944, a singular event that fundamentally changed the history of the Anglican Communion. At the heart of this collection lies the rich experience of those women in the Anglican church, both Chinese and Western, who devoted their lives to their evangelizing and civilizing mission across mainland China and Hong Kong. Contributors make the most of the sources to reconstruct their voices and present sympathetic accounts of these remarkable women’s achievements.